- Jurgen Klopp defends Mohamed Salah who has been criticized for diving

- The Liverpool manager stressed that the Egyptian knows it is unacceptable

- Liverpool take on Leicester for a chance to go seven points clear at the top

Jurgen Klopp defends Mohamed Salah's diving claims of late saying the player himself knows it is unacceptable.

The German tactician responded to claims that the current Premier League top goalscorer is a cheat after being awarded controversial penalties in recent games.

During the Reds' last game against Crystal Palace, Salah went down too easily which summed up the Egyptian is making the most of such situations after getting penalties against Newcastle, Arsenal and Brighton since Christmas.

And when asked if Klopp had spoken to the striker about the claims, he responded with rare animation: "You have a player in the back [of you], you are there, you feel something, do you have to go down? Probably not.

“I don’t have to speak to players about obvious things. He knows that. Don’t go down in situations like that.

“All the penalties against him were penalties, but people handle it like it was halfway diving. It was not. We don’t need blood for a foul in football. That’s all I will say about it.

“No, I didn’t speak to him about it. This is the first situation where he went down without (penalty), and you speak about all the other situations as well. The other situations, there was nothing to talk about. It is a penalty. Done. If that is the first, then why would we talk then?

“Did anyone talk to [Leicester striker] Jamie Vardy, when everybody saw? I watched the game [against Southampton in January]. That was proper — he jumped. Is Jamie a bad person because of that?

The ex-Dortmund boss admitted Salah went down too easily against Palace but the former Roma player did not appeal as the referee waved play on.

But in other three games, the decisions has been looked more clear-cut and the referee was forced to award a spot-kick to Salah who made the fouls look more obvious.

It has been 20 months since Liverpool were given a penalty by the referee since the alleged Salah's antics began.

And their closest Premier League rivals Manchester City have produced a dossier showing how Salah got rewarded and Raheem Sterling does not get the same.

There are other situations that are much more obvious that we don’t talk about, and nobody is talking about because it’s not City, it’s not United, it’s not Liverpool, it’s not Arsenal or it’s not Chelsea," said the German.

"All the others can do it from time to time and nobody really talks about it. That’s all fine.”

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh had earlier reported that Liverpool fans have taken to social media to praise former boss Rafael Benitezfollowing Newcastle United's 2-1 victory over title contenders Manchester City on Tuesday night.

A goal each from Salomon Rondon and Matt Ritchie ensured Sergio Aguero's first minute goal ended a consolation as the Citizens failed to close gaps on the Reds on the log.